Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus UMass on December 19, 2025 at 1:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs. UMass
Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Craig Angelos Responds
Craig Angelos Responds
Sept. 29, 2003
Question from Rob Christensen: We miss you at IU---but are excited for what you'll be able to accomplish at FAU. What lessons do you bring from Bloomington that will make your contribution even greater at FAU.
A: Dear Rob: Imagine my surprise when I see that we have fans of FAU all the way in Bloomington, IN. I learned many lessons while at IU that have and will serve me well at FAU. One of the biggest lessons I learned is the need to solicit input from the wide range of constituents that are interested in the intercollegiate athletic program. At that point it is imperative that you build a broad based support system that includes the board of trustees, the president, administration, alumni, and donors. I believe that if everybody is working together utilizing synchronized energy that great things can happen. With our new leadership at the institution, lead by our president, we will be able to accomplish great things in a short period of time here at FAU.
I want to thank you for your interest in our program. I miss being in Bloomington and sitting in meetings with you but know that you are doing a great job juggling all your responsibilities. Best wishes.
Craig Angelos
Question from Stan D. Green, FAU'77: Will FAU Play OSU in basketball again, or play a Tulsa Team like TU or Oral Roberts?
A: Dear Stan: Thank you very much for your interest in FAU athletics. In my conversations with Coach Green, we have discussed the need to win the conference tournament if we have hopes of making the NCAA tournaments. As a mid-major institution, it is very difficult to make the NCAA tournament if you don't win your conference tournament. Because of this, the strength of schedule does not play an important role at a school like ours as it does in the big conferences. Therefore, Sidney has had the challenge of trying to schedule a balanced pre-season schedule that will prepare him more for the conference. We would very much like to play teams like OSU and others that can provide a good test for our players because those are the types of teams we hope to be playing in the NCAA tournament. Certainly, we have to consider costs of travel as well as any guarantees to be paid to us to come to those places. Also, if we host them at Boca Raton a guarantee is generally required to get them down here. Nonetheless, we will look at his schedule and try to be as competitive as possible but certainly hope to play teams like OSU. Thanks for your interest in our program and best wishes. Craig Angelos
Question from Daquia McCoy: I'm a student athlete at FAU (women's track and field). When will the Track program get a track?
A: Dear Daquia: First of all, I really do appreciate your interest in helping FAU track program get better all the time. As the new athletic director who has only been in place for about six weeks, I understand your frustration with not having a quality track on which to train. I am not sure of the promises that might have been made when you were recruited, but I will tell you that as the new athletic director I have been talking to firms about doing a master plan for our facilities in which I will ask them to look at all aspects of our facilities and how we can upgrade them for the next generation. Certainly, those plans would include developing a new track at some time in the future. What I would like to do is have the master plan in place so then we can then decide how much the renovations or new construction would cost and then try to identify sources in which to fund these projects. I understand your frustration and I will certainly do everything I can to put in place first class facilities for FAU athletics. Certainly, this will not come overnight but I am in the process of developing a plan and hope that I can move as quickly as possible as we try to build a new football stadium, basketball arena, new track and other upgrades. Keep working hard and feel free to check back with me at any time for any updates. Best wishes. Craig Angelos
Question from Justin Dirico: Will FAU Football join a I-AA conference before going I-A? If so which? How long until we see a stadium on campus?
A: Dear Justin: Thank you for your interest in FAU football. We are doing a wonderful job with our program and are excited about our progress. As far as the possibilities of joining a 1-AA conference before joining 1-A, I will say we have been approached by 1-AA conferences and asked whether we would like to join but I have told them that we are trying to make a push to be a Division 1-A school in the next two to three years. It is my sincere hope that FAU could possibly find a home in a 1-A conference when the trickle down effect from conference expansion begins to take place. It is also our hope that we can have an on-campus stadium in the next three to four years. Right now we are playing at Lockhart Stadium which holds about 20,000 fans. We have a three year contract with them. When we do build an on-campus facility we want to make it a first class facility. Therefore, we don't want to rush it since we can still play at Lockhart but it nevertheless is our top priority at this point. If we can get picked up by a 1-A conference to get a stadium on campus I believe our football program would flourish tremendously. That is our goal and hopefully it will happen. Thanks for your interest and best wishes. Craig Angelos
Question from Steve Dahlstrom: Do you have any ideas as to how you can get more students to show up to the athletic events?
A: Dear Steve: First of all, I want to tell you how appreciative I am about your very positive letter to the editor at the Sun Sentinel, recently. We are very enthusiastic about your interest in our program and hope that will continue to grow and you will continue to find ways to be involved in our program. With regards to getting more students at the games, this is a constant battle that we face at our school and many other schools. I recently was at Indiana University and they have 45,000 students within 10 minutes of their campus and yet they were only able to get out about 3,000 a game for football. Students have so many options but nevertheless we have met with the student government and done a number of promotions to notify them and create an awareness of the games as well as to feed them at the games, give them free tickets, provide tailgating, at as many games as we possibly can. We are trying to solicit their input as to what they think would help get their fellow students out and trying to act on those tips. We will continue to work at it. Hopefully it will bear some fruit soon. Nevertheless, thanks for all your interest in the program. Best wishes. Craig Angelos